Blogs from Spokane, Washington, United States, North America

8/5 After a wonderful dinner and great conversation, we went to bed and slept like babies. In the morning we woke to a delicious home cooked breakfast of Huckleberry pancakes. We watched hummingbirds line up for the feeders and deer in the meadows. The uninvited turkeys came later. Our breakfast feeding frenzy over, we piled into Ellen and Jim’s car for a tour of Spokane. ‘Spokan Falls’ was the original name of the town, named in 1873 by James Nettle Glover after the Spokane Tribe. By 1891 an ‘e’ was added and the falls was dropped making it simply Spokane. The impressive Spokane Washington Water Power Company now called Avista Utilities, completed the Monroe Street Dam. We took the steps down to Spokane Vista, an impressive park and viewing spot of the powerful falls. There is ... read more

Travel Blog 4-29 to 5-25 All is packed and our belongings have been shipped to a location in Washington, some place secure but accessible whenever we need to get into it. Julie retired on a Friday and we set off on becoming full time RVers that Monday. The cats loaded up weeks earlier, had become accustom to the big downsizing and settled in to traveling. Sleeping in the back while I drove and perching on the dash when we stop for the night.We crossed into Canada without incident, having done it many times before we knew what we needed and what not to bring. Be sure to check the Canadian travel website for restrictions on pets, firearms, wood, etc. Traveling with cats, we knew all we needed was current rabies tags and we were good. Great ... read more

I shared this devotional below with some loved ones this week. It's from Sarah Young's "Jesus Calling" book. I though it was a great one to post here on our travel blog too. One of my prayers has been that we as a family enjoy the Lord together, thank Him often, and "sing" with Him! God is Sweet! God loves you and He sings over you, dear ones! Psalm 118:24 "This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it." I want you to begin each day by opening up your hands and your heart to receive My gifts. From the morning sunrise to the evening stars, I have prepared so many gifts for you. And I can't wait to see what you think of each one. Will you notice ... read more

We headed North for the summer searching for a low elevation, cool weather spot. I found Skookum Rendezvous RV Resort in Usk, Washington in my Google searches. Danny and Maureen Motola had a lot for sale which they rented to us for a month. The 1600 mile trip took us 2 weeks as we don't travel very fast. The resort is located on the beautiful Pend 'Orielle River. The area is beautiful, albeit isolated. Maureen connected me with their pickleball group that carpooled to the Indian Reservation twice a week to play indoors. Yes, the Kalispell's call themselves Indians and live on a reservation, not Nations People. The facility was first class and welcomes all people from the area. We spent our time "sharpening the saw" as Stephen Covey writes. Oh, and picking up bear scat ... read more

I think I travelled through every season of the year as I travelled from Cochrane to Spokane today. I came via the Crowsnest Pass, which was clear and dry two days ago but not today. As variant as the weather was, the roads were consistently clear of ice or snow and were just wet from time to time, so that was a good thing. I'm traveling in our new RAV4 so that is a change - a nice change at that. I always reflect on the changes in the Michel Valley just east of Sparwood. When I used to drive through there with my folks in the 50's, the mining towns of Michel and Natal existed and were full of the miners and their families. All the houses were small square shaped buildings with high peaked ... read more